Guardiola asks for patienceThe Spanish coach has asked for patience after his team suffers its first defeat in the English Premier League this season. City suffer first loss in EPL 0 Pep Guardiola advised Manchester City’s supporters it will take up to three years for his methods to fully bear fruit after his side lost 2-0 at Tottenham Hotspur.City had avoided defeat in the first 11 games of Guardiola’s tenure as manager, but they were given a rude awakening at White Hart Lane on Sunday as Spurs trimmed their Premier League lead to a single point.
Guardiola declared Spurs are potential champions afterwards, but emphasised - as he had prior to the game - that his team are at a different stage in their development to Mauricio Pochettino’s side.
Asked if Spurs were title contenders, Guardiola replied: “They were last season. Why not? The same trainer, new players. In two, three years, my team will be better.
“In that sense it’s normal. In the Premier League there are many teams who can achieve that and Tottenham are one of them.”
He added: “They were the better team. It can happen sometimes.
“We play against one team that has been together the last two or three years, who last season were fighting until the end to win the Premier League.”
Aleksandar Kolarov, who struggled during City’s 3-3 Champions League draw at Celtic, gifted Spurs a ninth-minute lead when he inadvertently turned Danny Rose’s cross into his own net.
Son Heung-Min set up Dele Alli to sweep in Spurs’ second goal in the 37th minute and the hosts would have won with even more room to spare had Erik Lamela not seen a penalty parried by Claudio Bravo.
Alli described the result as a “big statement”, while Pochettino said his team had been “nearly perfect”.
The Argentine took particular satisfaction from the fact Spurs had prevented a Guardiola team from dominating possession until the latter stages.
“To play a great team like Man City, you need to do a fantastic job,” Pochettino said.
“In theory we are a team that want to have control always. In front was Manchester City, who want the same as us, then it’s a battle on the pitch.
“For that I feel very pleased because our players showed a big commitment with the philosophy. The way that we played was fantastic.”
EPL results
Sunday, 2 October
Burnley 0-1 Arsenal
Leicester City 0-0 Southampton
Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Manchester City
Manchester United 1–1 Stoke City